Genwa Korean Bbq - Beverly Hills

Where do we begin? So many dishes and so much banchan was on our table for 8 that it's hard to chronologically arrange this review, so I'll brain dump dishes as they come to my head. Large onions on grill blackened and delish. Meat on grill blackened and delish. Stone bowl fried rice was my favorite dish of the night, charred sides and perfectly chewy. kimchi, potatoes, spinach, jalapenos, bean sprouts were all well spiced. The japchae were ok, too slimy, but that's on me just not liking that dish than on them. The puffy egg thing that came in a stone bowl was incredible, amazingly fluffy and melted in your mouth, I'd love to try make that myself. The drinks (sapporo, makgeoli) are basic and bottled. The tteokboki was excellent, extra saucy and chewy, keeps you quiet for a bit chewing through those rice cakes!

I'm not sure what it was. Just tasted like everything was heavy on msg. I'm not opposed to cooking with msg but we just all felt heavy and sick after eating here. I put 2 stars bc I used to love this place before I moved to Europe. This was my first visit since moving back and hoping I just caught a bad day

Weird way to review this: as a standalone restaurant, I think it rates a solid 4-stars. However, as a Genwa location, because of its limited menu compared to its other locations, I unfortunately rate it just 3-stars. Don't get me wrong, the dishes they do have are all pretty good. The Galbi (marinated beef ribs), spicy chicken bulgogi, and dolsot (hot stone) bibimbap are all good. I just get annoyed that it has barely a third of the good stuff available at other locations. I get it though, as the local Beverly Hills palate isn't well suited for the traditional good stuff, but seriously, it's like going to Burger join that serves burgers and soda, but no fries and milkshakes. It gets busy occasionally, but nothing crazy busy like the mid-Wilshire location, which is their Mecca location. If your palate is only mildly adventurous, then I suppose this is a good location for you. If you're equipped with a globe-trotting, experienced palate, opt for the mid-Wilshire location.

More convenient to get to from touristy areas of LA than the Koreatown restaurants which is how I ended up here. Hard to get on street parking but they have valet parking. Clean modern interior. They have high quality meat but it is quite expensive compared to Ktown. Plentiful and great Banchan. Good if you're in Beverly Hills/West Hollywood but there are better in Ktown.

I'd give it 6 stars if I could. Unparalleled service and a ton of food. Delish. We got the course option and it fed my entire family. The quality is so good. I just can't say enough about this place. It was so good.